


after a drink

by katierosefun



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka Tano Needs a Hug, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Anakin Skywalker is So Done, Angst, Drinking & Talking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s04e15 Deception, Gen, Heavy Drinking, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, Post-Deception Arc, Post-Episode: s04e15 Deception, Protective Ahsoka Tano, actually...i think they're all done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:02:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27975546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katierosefun/pseuds/katierosefun
Summary: The commlink chirped to life, and Ahsoka had to clamp her hand over it to muffle the volume. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe, and not just because of the smell—but because the commlink was blinking up at her now, and then she heard Obi-Wan’s voice, somewhat stifled but it was his voice that asked, “Hello? Who is this?”“Master Kenobi,” Ahsoka said, barely able to raise her voice just louder than a whisper. “It’s me. Ahsoka.”“Ahsoka?”“Yeah,” Ahsoka said, closing her eyes. She thought she should say something else—she probably should say something else.She didn’t.“I need your help,” she said. She dropped her forehead against her hand. “It’s Anakin.”Ahsoka thought she lost the signal.But then Obi-Wan’s voice came clearer, louder. “Where are you two?”[or: after the events of the deception arc, Ahsoka calls Obi-Wan for help because Anakin landed himself in trouble.]
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 14
Kudos: 413





	after a drink

**Author's Note:**

> this song isn't fitting at all, but if anyone's wondering, i listened to [spoken for by anna akana](https://open.spotify.com/track/6MGd8bsy1aq2CtZuPxfHjn?si=Fz6OrI86TpGpIojJmDV68g) on my [drunken confessions playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1RVaijeii4o3TvG5WRfuYT?si=u6v5eHWVRW2UFmg2BXp-KA) (,,,i know, i have a weird love for this trope).

Ahsoka was starting to lose count of the drinks her master had. She suspected he was, too—him and nearly every seedy criminal that was left around here, including the one sitting across from Anakin.

Some crime lord, apparently—Ahsoka had already forgotten his name, although that could be mostly due to the fact that the whole den was filled with a haze of head-spinning, sweet-smelling smoke. She tried to focus on something that _wasn’t_ the smoke—her own fingers, which gripped her knees hard enough to bruise, the splatter of something that might have been vomit or something else that she had walked in on the way here. Her master’s slightly bouncing leg as he downed another shot.

She hated it here. And she wanted to grab the shot glasses and throw them at the wall behind the crime lord—the wall that was decorated with ugly plaques and holo photos of people who he had apparently _taken care of_. Murdered. Murdered was the right word.

Ahsoka found herself staring at one particularly gruesome photo of a Rodian with his head twisted at an odd angle. His wide eyes were still open, mouth caught in a silent cry for—what, Ahsoka didn’t know. Help, mercy.

Anakin shuddered beside her, and Ahsoka instinctively reached over to grab him before he could fall out of his seat. And she’d had to do that a few times already—and each time, Anakin had batted her hand away. But that was when he at least had some more control over himself. Now he just sank under Ahsoka’s grip. For a moment, Ahsoka thought this was it: he was giving up now, and she was stupidly, ashamedly relieved for that.

But then Anakin lifted his head, and slamming his hand against the table, he slurred, “Nice try.”

The crime lord smiled.

Ahsoka’s heart sank. So he wasn’t giving up, then.

 _Just stop_ , she wanted to say.

“Master…”

“’s okay,” Anakin mumbled. He turned briefly to Ahsoka. “See? ‘m fine.”

He wasn’t, Ahsoka knew. He was _not_ fine. There was _nothing_ fine about this. She didn’t care if it was some stupid custom for this particular mob to have some stupid drinking ritual. She was sure that the crime lord had just made that up on the spot to keep himself in the clear from giving any information—but there were too many people gathered in this one space, and even _with_ their lightsabers and their abilities, Ahsoka knew that if she reached for her sabers, she’d be shot in a second. That, and trying to drag her master…

Ahsoka glared down at the shot glass. At the small cluster of shot glasses that seemed to just grow and grow with each passing minute.

“You can join any time, little lady,” the crime lord said, catching Ahsoka’s glare. He lifted a glass. “Ease our burdens, hm?”

That seemed to snap Anakin out of his stupor.

“No,” he said, slamming his other hand against the table. “Had a deal. She…” He blinked a few times, dropped his head briefly. Ahsoka’s chest tightened as he struggled, and then and then Anakin lifted his head back up. “She stays _out_ of this.”

That had been another thing about this stupid ritual. Ahsoka had realized when they came into this building. They had been given some options: either Anakin and Ahsoka _both_ drink, or Anakin takes the drinks for Ahsoka, too.

She knew that it would have been so easy to just turn to more aggressive negotiations at that point—or just flatly turn around and come back with more people.

But then Anakin had surprised Ahsoka by taking the second option, even though they _both_ knew that Anakin couldn’t drink. That had been something Obi-Wan told Ahsoka once, only that had been months ago, before things were as strange as they were now.

Ahsoka wondered what Obi-Wan would have done if he was here.

“If you say so,” the crime lord said. He winked at Ahsoka, and this time, she really would have gotten up to fling one of the empty shot glasses at his head—but Anakin set a hand on her arm. That was another thing about her master’s new state that Ahsoka couldn’t wrap her head around: he seemed simultaneously there and _not_ , both hyper-aware of his surroundings and _not_.

“We’ve been here for hours,” Ahsoka said at last. “Do you have the information or not?”

“Why the hurry?” the crime lord asked. He lounged back in his seat, waving a bit of the sweet-smelling smoke from his eyes. “Little lady like you—I’m offering you a brief pause.” He blew a plume of smoke in Ahsoka’s face, and she coughed, waving it away. Her head spun again, but she kept her head up. “Take things slowly.”

“This isn’t taking things slowly,” Ahsoka said. “You’re…” Her voice drifted as Anakin started to slip off his seat. “ _Anakin_ —”

He caught himself before he could go crashing to the ground. “’m good, ‘m good,” he said, his eyes just barely open.

“This isn’t—” Ahsoka stood up, heard the click and clack of hundreds of blasters settle on her.

The crime lord smiled, lifting his glass to his lips. “As you can see,” he said, “none of my friends care to speed things along, either. So you might as well sit down.”

Ahsoka’s head raced with some solution. They were on Coruscant, so that was a good start—but the chance of some trooper walking past this already secluded, Underworld den were slim. She slowly settled back down to her seat. She didn’t dare look behind her, not even as she heard the blasters shift away from her.

“Now,” the crime lord said. “Where were we?”

\--

Ahsoka spent the next hour alternating between keeping her master upright and examining the people around her. She caught a few people leering at her, and each time, she glared back. Once or twice, when someone got too close, Ahsoka would purposely knock back someone’s head into another. Everyone was otherwise too drunk or high on the smoke to pay attention to that much—but that didn’t stop the fact that there were still blasters aimed at her back.

Ahsoka looked around herself again. There had to be _something_ …

And then she noticed the communicators on everyone’s wrists.

Ahsoka paused. The comms were almost certainly switched to non-Republic channels, but if she could somehow get a hold of them, maybe she could—

“I need to use the refresher,” Ahsoka said loudly.

There were some grumbles and mutters, and then Ahsoka repeated, “ _Now_.”

The crime lord—whose face had only reddened a little bit from the drink, looked at Ahsoka. “Careful, girl,” he said. “You think of doing anything…hate for all our fingers to slip…” But then he jerked his head to one of the henchmen, and Ahsoka let herself be dragged along by the arm. She held her breath as she was led through the mass of unwashed and drunken bodies, glanced back only once to see Anakin’s lowering head.

 _Hold on, Master_.

Ahsoka glanced down at the utility belt of the man dragging her. She glanced back up at him—he was more sober than the rest, but still, his steps were heavy and slow. His mistake.

Ahsoka lowered her hand and, calling on the Force, snagged onto his commlink. She curled her hand over the small device, subtly lowered it to her side.

“In here,” the henchman grunted, and Ahsoka was practically tossed into a cramped refresher. The door slammed shut behind her, and Ahsoka found herself standing in a somewhat dim space that smelled overwhelmingly like vomit and something else that she didn’t really want to think about. Holding her breath again, Ahsoka fumbled for the commlink. _Come on, come on_ —

Her hands shook a little as she worked the commlink. She didn’t know why they were shaking—they had no reason to shake, because she had been in worse situations before. But still, in that cramped, dark, vomit-smelling refresher, Ahsoka felt like she was the only one left in the world.

But she wasn’t. Anakin was still in the building, even if he wasn’t…right. And somewhere else, Obi-Wan—

Ahsoka made the mistake of breathing in the stench around her. She gasped, just barely held in a retch as she worked the commlink. She had to do this. _Had to_.

The commlink chirped to life, and Ahsoka had to clamp her hand over it to muffle the volume. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe, and not just because of the smell—but because the commlink was blinking up at her now, and then she heard Obi-Wan’s voice, somewhat stifled but it was _his_ voice that asked, “Hello? Who is this?”

“Master Kenobi,” Ahsoka said, barely able to raise her voice just louder than a whisper. “It’s me. Ahsoka.”

“Ahsoka?”

“Yeah,” Ahsoka said, closing her eyes. She thought she should say something else—she probably should say something else.

She didn’t.

“I need your help,” she said. She dropped her forehead against her hand. “It’s Anakin.”

Ahsoka thought she lost the signal.

But then Obi-Wan’s voice came clearer, louder. “Where are you two?”

Ahsoka gave the coordinates.

\--

When the doors were blasted down, Ahsoka already had her hand wrapped around Anakin’s wrist. She forced them both down, ignoring the sharp cries and shattering glasses all around her. Blaster fire—blaster fire that came too close to her head, because Ahsoka’s skull rang with the sound and the sudden heat.

“What…” Anakin’s eyes were unfocused, but then they both looked up to find that familiar bands of red and white were already storming on. Coruscant guards, all their blasters already aimed at the men and women clustered in this sinkhole of a bar.

“Are you okay?” Ahsoka asked, turning around to look at Anakin. His hair had fallen in his face, and his cheeks were an ugly mottled red color. When Ahsoka touched the side of his face, it was hot with alcohol and something else. “Master?”

“’m fine,” Anakin mumbled, and he moved himself away, probably to avoid Ahsoka’s touch, but then he looked up again, and he groaned. “Not _you_ …”

Ahsoka suddenly became aware of footsteps, and then she turned around, looked up to find Obi-Wan at the edge of the counter. (The real Obi-Wan, not the fake Rako-Hardeen-Obi-Wan that Ahsoka still didn’t really want to think about.)

“Master Kenobi,” Ahsoka said. “Right on time.”

“Aren’t I always,” Obi-Wan said, but he wasn’t smiling. Ahsoka was glad. She didn’t really feel like smiling either.

He knelt down on Anakin’s other side. “How many,” he said.

“I don’t know,” Ahsoka replied desperately. “But he’s…” She gestured helplessly.

“Right here,” Anakin mumbled, swinging away from Ahsoka. Unfortunately for him, this meant that his head crashed against Obi-Wan’s shoulder. As though realizing this, Anakin’s head jerked up, as though he had been burned.

Ahsoka didn’t miss the hurt that flitted across Obi-Wan’s face.

Then Obi-Wan noticed Ahsoka watching, and he looked away.

“Well, if he’s able to react,” Obi-Wan said, “then that’s better than I feared.”

Anakin mumbled something Ahsoka couldn’t understand.

“No need to use that kind of language,” Obi-Wan said. He looked at Ahsoka. “There’s a speeder outside. I can help you take him outside, and then—”

“You mean you’re not coming back with us?” Ahsoka asked. She was surprised that she had bothered asking that—and she knew that her surprise must have shown, because Obi-Wan’s expression softened just the slightest.

“I mean,” Ahsoka tried again, “you should come with us.” She wrapped an arm around Anakin’s middle and added, “And he’s _heavy_.”

Anakin dragged his eyes over to Ahsoka. She thought he was going to say something, but he just closed his eyes and dropped his chin to his chest.

Ahsoka looked at Obi-Wan.

After a moment, he nodded.

They both stood up, careful to balance Anakin between them. Ahsoka heard Obi-Wan give quiet orders to the other guards, and then they were making their way out of the bar. They found the speeder eventually, and with some grunting and jostling limbs, they managed to get Anakin into the backseat. Ahsoka had to hop in through the other side.

“Ready back there?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Yeah.”

The speeder lifted off, and Ahsoka gathered her knees to her chest. The air was cool, and she wished for once that she had actually brought her cloak, but of course she hadn’t. She hadn’t thought that they would be out for this long.

Ahsoka looked up to the back of Obi-Wan’s head. She had to look for a few seconds before she said, “Your hair’s grown out.”

“Hm?” Obi-Wan looked back at her. And then, turning back around, he said, “Yes. The process…accelerates after the first day or so.”

Ahsoka nodded, dropping her chin back on her knees. She remembered seeing Obi-Wan once after…the events of Naboo. She just remembered walking into the room, taking one look at Obi-Wan-who-wasn’t-really-Obi-Wan-yet and then deciding to walk out.

She didn’t know if Anakin visited him at all.

She looked over at Anakin. His face was still that ugly red color, but not in a poison or allergic reaction kind of way. Just in a really, really drunk kind of way that didn’t make Ahsoka feel comfortable.

“He didn’t have to do it,” Ahsoka said at last. She wasn’t sure if Obi-Wan could hear her over the roar of the speeders—she wasn’t trying to make herself heard anyways. She watched Anakin for a while. “It was just some stupid thing the boss was trying to get us to both do. But Anakin wouldn’t let me.”

She paused, looked to the back of Obi-Wan’s head again. “He could have stopped it, I think. If he wanted to.”

She looked at Anakin and then, quietly, too quietly even for herself, Ahsoka said, “I don’t think he wanted to. Just for once.”

She waited for a response, even though she wouldn’t get any. And she was right—she had spoken too quietly, because Obi-Wan didn’t say anything.

Ahsoka closed her eyes.

\--

“Ahsoka.”

Ahsoka opened her eyes to find Obi-Wan hovering over her. The door was open.

Ahsoka nodded. She rubbed a hand over her face, stepped out of the speeder. Somehow, her heavy legs managed to drag her around to the other side of the speeder so she could pick up her still sleeping master. More grunts, more quiet sighs, and then Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were trudging into the Temple with Anakin dangling between them.

Only they had just stepped inside when Anakin suddenly shifted in their grip, and then Anakin lifted his head. He wasn’t looking at Ahsoka though—he was looking at Obi-Wan, his eyes still not really focused.

“What’re you…” Anakin’s voice was slow. Unsteady. “ _You_ doing?”

Ahsoka shot a quick look at Obi-Wan.

“Presently?” Obi-Wan asked. “Getting you back to your quarters.”

Anakin shook his head. “Don’t want…” He suddenly jerked out of both Ahsoka and Obi-Wan’s grip.

“Master—” Ahsoka tried to grab him back, but Anakin was already out.

“Don’t need it,” Anakin said. He looked at Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, his expression wary and not quite right. He swayed a little bit, and Ahsoka and Obi-Wan both stepped forward.

But Anakin somehow stayed upright, and with a final glare, he turned around, and—

Threw up.

“Master—”

“Anakin—”

Both Ahsoka and Obi-Wan rushed forward as Anakin sank to his knees, and he probably would have fallen down right there if they hadn’t been there to hold him back. Anakin coughed a few times—pained gasping sounds that made Ahsoka’s throat and chest hurt. 

“Mess,” Anakin said at last, once he had stopped heaving. “Made a…”

“Don’t worry about that now,” Obi-Wan said. “We’ll notify someone later.”

“’s embarrassing…”

 _So now you won’t do it again_ , Ahsoka thought.

“Come on,” Ahsoka said. She tugged at Anakin’s tunic, and together, Obi-Wan and she had Anakin back up again. “Just lean.”

Anakin nodded dully, and they somehow managed to get to Anakin’s quarters. Obi-Wan was the one who had to type in the password, and then they were in.

“Bed,” Obi-Wan instructed, and Ahsoka nodded.

“Get off—” Anakin started to say, but Ahsoka and Obi-Wan had already lowered Anakin to the bed. “Let _go_ of me, ‘wan—”

“I’m going to get some new clothes,” Obi-Wan said, speaking over Anakin’s protests. “He shouldn’t sleep in…that.”

Ahsoka didn’t have to look to know.

As Obi-Wan went to find some new clothes, Ahsoka grabbed a cup, filled it with water. She sat down next to Anakin, lifted the glass up to his lips.

He drank, coughed once, but to Ahsoka’s relief, he didn’t throw up again.

“Are you okay?” Ahsoka asked, setting the glass down when he had finished.

Anakin shook his head. He looked mostly tired now, a little sick. His head fell against Ahsoka’s shoulder, but she didn’t bother pushing him away. “Make him leave,” he mumbled.

Ahsoka paused. She looked to where Obi-Wan was still sorting through clothes.

“I’m not going to do that,” she said quietly.

“Not to worry,” Obi-Wan said, not turning around. He had a sleep shirt in his hands. “I’ll be gone soon enough.”

He turned around, and in just a few strides, he had made it to the bed. The vomit-stained tunic was swapped out for the clean shirt, the quiet whining swapped out for an uncomfortable silence.

“There,” Obi-Wan said, folding over the dirty tunic. “All finished.”

Anakin didn’t say anything. He lifted his head once, briefly, and Ahsoka thought that he looked a little more focused now, but no—his eyes slid away again. He laid down, his back to Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. He didn’t even bother with the covers.

Only a minute passed before Ahsoka heard Anakin’s breathing even out—slow, steady, even.

“Is he asleep?” Ahsoka asked.

“Yes.” Obi-Wan’s voice was barely louder than a whisper.

Ahsoka looked at Obi-Wan. “Are you actually going to go?”

Obi-Wan looked at Ahsoka. “Would you like me to go?”

“No,” Ahsoka replied automatically. “I really don’t.”

She thought she saw something shine in Obi-Wan’s eyes, but that might have just been the light.

“Very well,” he said.

\--

Ahsoka didn’t remember falling asleep, but she apparently did. She was moved to the couch, and she woke up to feeling a scratchy cloak. Or—she thought that was why she woke up, but no—she heard something else, and she became suddenly aware of heavy gasping, ragged cries.

Ahsoka started to sit up, but—no, she saw movement above her, and then she heard the creak of a mattress. Multiple creaks, and then she heard Obi-Wan’s voice above it all: “only a nightmare, Anakin...”

More broken sounds—and then Ahsoka realized with a start that Anakin was _crying_.

She stilled, tugged the cloak tighter around herself. She hadn’t heard Anakin cry before.

He hadn’t even cried at the funeral.

But he cried now, and she heard a soft thump—hands shoving against something. A chest, Ahsoka realized. Ahsoka heard more struggling, and this time, she lifted her head just a little to see Obi-Wan patiently holding Anakin’s wrists.

More struggling, more angry words being bit out.

Ahsoka saw Obi-Wan flinch only once, but instead of letting go, he held on. Still held on.

And then, quietly, quietly, Ahsoka heard Obi-Wan say, “I’m sorry.”

There was another pained gasp, but Ahsoka saw Anakin slacken. Sink.

Obi-Wan said something too quiet for Ahsoka to hear. She didn’t think she was supposed to hear anyways.

\--

But eventually, Obi-Wan called her name, and Ahsoka didn’t bother pretending to be asleep.

She slipped off the couch, Obi-Wan’s cloak still wrapped around her like a blanket.

She sat on the bed, fanned the cloak over themselves. She rested her cheek on Anakin’s shoulder.

She found warm hands—Anakin’s, Obi-Wan’s a few moments later.

\--

They slept through the night.

**Author's Note:**

> as always, comments/kudos are greatly appreciated! 
> 
> and of course, if you'd like, come say hi on [tumblr](https://katierosefun.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
